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Published: June 30, 2008 08:39 pm    print this story  

BORDER: Weekend traffic should be telling

With long weekend coming bridge officials wait to see if high gas prices make an impact

By Dan Miner
E-mail Dan
Niagara Gazette

One of the busiest weekends for cross-border traffic is nearly upon the Niagara region.

Beginning Friday and ending Sunday, drivers should be aware of waits at the bridges in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Lewiston, said Brent Gallaugher, manager of agency relations and security at the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission.

“This is really the first long weekend of the summer and there’ll be more traffic than normal,” Gallaugher said. “It’ll be telling, to be honest, with what’s going on with the price of gasoline having an effect on people’s travel patterns.”

The July 4 weekend are “travel days” — especially Friday and Sunday — with families heading back and forth across the bridges, Gallaugher said. Cross-border traffic will also be heavier than normal today because of Canada Day — the Canadian version of Independence Day.

“There will clearly be an upswing of volume (today),” Gallaugher said. “It won’t be a normal Tuesday but we don’t anticipate it being as bad as the weekend.”

In preparation for the extra traffic, customs on both sides will have more staffing and be opening up as many booths at a time as usual.

With the relative weakness of the U.S. dollar and gas prices, it’s difficult to predict how much congestion there will be this weekend. But it’s bound to be there in some capacity.

“We did experience earlier in the year the cross-border shopping phenomenon,” Gallaugher said. “And there’s still Canadians coming over.”

To ease the experience at bridges this weekend, Gallaugher has two pieces of advice:

n Bring a government-issued ID (remember not to keep it in your trunk) and proof of a birth certificate to present at customs.

n Be aware which bridges are experiencing the most traffic and avoid them.

“If (traffic) was dispersed evenly, (congestion) would be a lot less,” Gallaugher said. “But then again people go to the bridge of their choice.”

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